There are many nighttime books for children, but this is the first I've seen for waking. It starts gently, it becomes exuberant. It is joyful. And as the little boy of the book wakes and proceeds to greet the objects within his room and without, the light steadily grows, casting a glow on hazy pastel illustrations. Good morning, pillow. Good morning book. Finally, daddy enters his room and the boy's most joyful 'Good Morning!' peals out as they hug.

There is a special joy in that time before everyone awakens, when one has the world to oneself. Perhaps this book will help you appreciate, or awaken, that little morning person.

This book in question, i.e.,Negro In America a Bibliography
by Elizabeth Miller (Author), A fine bibliography that will need the meet of both accomplished scholars and beginning students alike will find this bibliography instructive whether for quick reference or for extended reading. Highly Recomended.

A well thought out book with excellent resources for Gocco Printing. Great for learning new ideas, tricks & tips for getting the most out of your Gocco Printer. A bargain price considering the amount of experience that is shared with buyers in this book.

Another wonderful addition to the "Painless" series, this little handbook is a must-have for students, parents, and teachers who want to make spelling easier for themselves or others. Let's face it, spelling isn't exactly high-interest learning - but the "Painless" guide truly does make learning easy and nowhere near as boring as the typical spelling books we all endured in school. The examples are fresh and interesting, and the explanations are clear...and best of all, this guide really does make learning/teaching spelling a PAINLESS experience!

Excellent resource for all Nursing Schools. I would love to see it recirculated. It covers a span of over 130 years of Black women and men who dedicated their lives to the Nursing Profession.

An invaluable aid to those whose desire is to authentically decorate, this book covers the periods spanning from Medieval through Moderism and Art Deco. The author, Mary Gilliatt is a distinguished international interior designer and the author of more than twenty-five books on decoration and design. This book contains a helpful glossary of period decorating terms, the color palettes of each time period, and an abundance of color photographs. Having recently moved into a new home, this book has been a tremendous help to me in choosing authentic looking window treatments and furnishings of a prior period in history.

This book very gently and compassionately guides children through grieving the loss of a parent or loved one and helps them focus on the happy, loving memories of the one they lost. After Elizabeth's father dies, she and her grandmother piece together a quilt made up of scraps of his clothing. Each scrap is reminiscent of a time when he wore the article of clothing. In the end, Elizabeth wraps herself up in this quilt to comfort herself and remember her father. I bought this book for my then 8 year old daughter when a classmate died of cancer, and we are still touched by its message 6 years later. It is a wonderful, wonderful book.

When Americans think about war refugees, we typically think of people made homeless due to conflicts fought on foreign soil. We tend to forget about the thousands of southerners driven from their homes during the War Between the States. Mary Elizabeth Massey's "Refugee Life in the Confederacy" describes the experience of southern refugees in fascinating detail.

While diarists provide wonderful detail about their individual lives, and to a certain extent, the lives of others they encountered, Massey's book creates a comprehensive "big picture." Massey makes a key point that one cannot rely on the experiences one or two persons to generalize about the typical refugee experience. "[T]here was no 'average' refugee. A person's financial situation, personal contacts, place of refugee, ingenuity, adjustability to changing conditions, and his good fortune or lack of it combined to make each refugee's circumstances distinctive," she notes.

For instance, the ability to find continue one's chosen field of work in a new locale varied greatly depending on profession: Teachers often could make a planned departure to a new school while college professors more often found themselves out of work as their institutions closed. Doctors and herbalists were in high demand wherever they went while lawyers had to resort to a different line of work unless they managed to transport their law library. Some journalists, often targeted by Union forces for publicly airing their views, managed to continue printing from new sites.

Massey's work, originally published in 1964, relies on a wide variety of diaries, letters and other first-hand accounts. She addresses refugee conditions in all the states of the Confederacy, not just the ones that typically receive the most attention due to more famous battles occurring on their soil. She does not discuss refugees in Maryland and Pennsylvania who fled during the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg, but does briefly mention pro-Union refugees who left home due to conflicts with neighbors over their allegiance.

Throughout the book, her writing style remains interesting and somewhat dramatic. Massey interweaves a broad variety of first-hand accounts into her analysis, adding further interest to her topic. Period illustrations from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and Harper's Weekly further dramatize the plight of the displaced.

"Refugee Life" begins with a brief overview of the some major events in the war that led persons to leave their homes, either temporarily or for the duration. Massey then turns to factors that led persons to decide to become refugees: scare stories about what the Union Army would do, letters from husbands and sons at war urging their wives and mothers to move to a safer place, newspaper editorials, avoiding conscription, becoming stranded after a visit to a military camp, and the desire to protect men of fighting age, including soldiers on leave, as Union forces drew near.

She argues that elite classes were more likely to become refugees than the poor for several reasons: 1) their political involvement would make them targets for Union retribution-and less willing to take the loyalty oath; 2) they more easily could afford to uproot; and 3) they had broader social contacts upon which they could draw. She notes, however, that refugeeing become a great social leveler. "After the first months it was difficult to distinguish between the classes and backgrounds of those displaced," she writes.

When civilians could make a planned departure, they might take wagons full of furniture with them, assuming they had the means to transport such a massive amount of belongings. Among the possessions that Massey describes being transported by refugees were pianos, kitchen stoves, livestock and pets, as well as other cherished furniture and household goods.

The chapters on deciding where to stay and what kind of accommodations and amenities might be available are fascinating. Massey analyzes the benefits of refugeeing to a city versus the country or a small village. She also describes the conflicts that arose when refugees stayed with extended family or had to deal with unhappy landlords. In an era where state loyalty ran high, refugees often were reluctant to leave their home states, even if few safe havens remained there, she says. As for the actual accommodations, Massey concludes that most refugees did not find what they were looking for, although different people tended to look for different things. Due to food shortages, as the war progressed, a room rarely included board. Cooking in one's room became common.

While refugees preferred a solid roof over their heads, even if that meant living in a carriage house, slave quarter or makeshift log cabin, Massey provides several examples of when refugees resided in tents, including tent cities around Petersburg, Atlanta and Fredericksburg. Tents might be constructed of blankets, quilts, and rugs.

Given the patriotic fervor of supporting the troops and making do during the blockade, one might assume that society was understanding of refugees. Not so, according to Massey. Newcomers did not receive a warm welcome, even at church, where they were asked to sit in the balcony rather than in the pews occupied by regular parishioners. Their children tended to be treated as outcasts at school. Until late in the war, fundraising efforts focused on aiding soldiers, not refugees. Massey concludes by describing the military policies of the North and South toward refugees, and efforts that ultimately were set up to provide aid.

The one drawback to "Refugee Life" is its organization. The topics of chapters are not readily available from their titles, which are quotes pulled from period documents. Fortunately, "Refugee Life" is well indexed, otherwise trying to find the section where daily life or treatment of border-state refugees was discussed would be quite time consuming. Another slight weakness in the organization is a certain amount of repetition. For instance, the chapter dealing with work opportunities goes over, albeit in greater detail, information already discussed in an earlier chapter on class distinctions.

This book is beautifully produced - the illustrations are old manuscript illuminations from Ethiopia. Beside each illustration is a bit of information explaining the iconography of the illustration. The art itself could be the entire book.

The text is a retelling of the nativity story uniting the canonical stories with folk and apocryphical nativities stories. The only other modern text I have seen treat the stories with such respect is Linney's Jesus Tales.

The result is a book that exhibits the early and natural expression of the wonder of the nativity. I highly recommend this book.

"The Road to Seneca Falls" will take contemporary readers back to the time of their great, Great, GREAT-grandparents. Can today's 4th and 5th graders identify with what may seem ancient history? Will Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her sausage curls draw young readers?

Let's hope Gwenyth Swain's story ignites interest & even passion
in 'Women's Rights' and the tough fight to change conditions which today's girls can hardly believe ever existed: NO college for women! NO rights to personal or real property! and definitely NO VOTE!

Elizabeth was never a shy violet. She was bright and determined. The story of her childhood makes her seem genuinely real. Her beliefs were authentic and she never turned her back on them, or those who stood with her, persistent and dedicated.

As a fan of the author, I was delighted to see her picture on the back cover of the library edition. She is shown at the truly meaningful national historical monment to women's rights, an exciting museum complex in Seneca Falls -- in upstate New York.
This is a town which many people identify as the backdrop for the movie classic "It's a Wonderful Life". The museum draws people from all over the USA and world and gives one the opportunity to pay tribute to women who did battle for a worthy cause. I could bridge many decades and pose next to a hero, Frederick Douglass!

I recommend this 5-star book for its well-researched story, and useful bibliography. It will help growing readers as they learn to choose values for their own lives.